Last year was our first year to do a science fair project with our kids. I don’t think I ever posted about it. Matthew’s project last year was “Does electricity travel through salt water or tap water better?” He got first in his class last year. We were very proud of him because this project was all his idea.
This year, because Jenny is now in third grade, she was able to do one as well. She chose to see if adding sugar water to plants helps them to grow. She grew turnips. SW is sugar water and NSW is no sugar water.
We learned that sugar slows down the osmotic potential of the plant so the plant can’t take up water as quickly if there is sugar in the water. This can be helpful in the flowering stage, to slow down a plant’s growth, but not helpful at all in the initial stages of a plant’s growth. She ended up placing third in her class this year.
Matthew wanted to see what kind of exercise would make a person’s heart beat faster. It was a fun project to do. We had all of Matthew’s friends come over one Saturday and do pushups, sit-ups, jumping rope, and running in a race, all timed for a minute and then tested each of their heart rates. Even if he didn’t place this year, he learned a lot, which I think is the most important thing.
